The Liver Cleansing Diet

The Liver Cleansing Diet, one of the detox family, was created by Dr Sandra Cabot. An Australian obstetrician, Dr Cabot (who for some reason uses a nom de plume) somehow expanded her medical interests to include liver cleansing diets after becoming interested in alternative medicine. For anyone looking for a diet with conventional scientific theory backing it up- this may not be the answer. However, for the growing number of natural medicine followers, this is a well written and informative approach to naturally cleansing one of the most important organs in the human body.

Who needs a liver cleansing diet? Well, according to Dr Cabot, almost anyone will benefit from a good liver cleanse, since a wide variety of non-specific symptoms can be caused by a clogged up liver. The theory is that our modern diet is loaded with excess fats, pollutants and chemicals which affect liver function. When the liver gets overloaded with globules of fat, caused by large amounts of saturated fat in the diet, it trys to store as much of it as possible, leading to fatty liver syndrome. This is made worse by an overload of additives and chemicals, many of which can slowly poison the liver. Gradually it becomes less able to process waste materials, and produces less of the many substances important in metabolism which it is responsible for. Dr Cabot says this can result in weight gain and a feeling of sluggishness, as well as allergies, headaches, high blood pressure and other symptoms.

The principles behind the Liver Cleansing Diet are fairly sound middle of the road dietary advice, with the addition of herbal remedies taken from Chinese medicine and several dietary supplements. Basically, there is no calorie counting and no food group restriction, and during the eight weeks of the diet weighing in is discouraged. Weight loss should result from improved liver function, and not from calorie reduction, according to this theory. The main tenets of the diet are ; not to eat if you aren't hungry; to drink plenty of water; to avoid refined sugar; avoid fast food, chemicals and preservatives and to try to find organic produce. The recipes encourage use of lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and don't use foods with a lot of saturated fats.

Research linking liver dysfunction to diet isn't really conclusive, and the Liver Cleansing Diet hasn't been tested scientifically. Some of the dietary supplements recommended are expensive, and from the literature available, not outstandingly effective.